Brownlow Medallist

Beginning with the attempted murder of apparent Bandidio Sargent at Arms Toby Mitchell the media have linked or rumored the following

the arrest of a drugs group across Melbourne Northern suburbs culminating in 5 arrests that media outlets have linked to the bikie war.

Rumors that a New Zealand gang new on the scene are recruiting in Melbourne's west.

A split between the Mitchell led faction of the Bandido's and The Lebanese members who now align themselves with the Hells Angels.

Satan's Soldiers clubhouse in Bendigo appears to have been deliberately torched and damaged. ( As far as I can tell Satan's soldiers is a club for wannabe hells angels)

Police raiding the Bandido's Brunswick base taking a couple of shot guns, some Hells Angels or connections been arrested for weapons and stolen vehicles

A shooting at Epping this morning that damaged an unoccupied car.

Culminating today so far in a Finks ride up the Hume being described as a massive police operation on Ch 9 tonight despite the fact they mentioned no arrests or claims of criminal behavior. In other words a group of blokes taking a Saturday afternoon bike ride.

So the question is, do we have an escalation in Melbourne's bike war, The media jumping at shadows, handbags at forty paces or the way it's always been and now's the time for good story.

Norm Smith Medallist

Only going by what I've read but it seems both the Angels and Bandidos have been recruiting a particular Lebanese family, who were initially linked to the Bandidos prior to the falling out with Mitchell.

Sounds like there's some personal beef between Mitchell and that mob, and the Angels have weighed in behind the Lebanese family. Not sure where the other Victorian clubs factor in like Outlaws, BU etc. but hopefully it's just a matter of a few scumbags trying to kill each other over some prison argument or a bad deal or a pregnant sister or something.

Debutant

Only going by what I've read but it seems both the Angels and Bandidos have been recruiting a particular Lebanese family, who were initially linked to the Bandidos prior to the falling out with Mitchell.

Sounds like there's some personal beef between Mitchell and that mob, and the Angels have weighed in behind the Lebanese family. Not sure where the other Victorian clubs factor in like Outlaws, BU etc. but hopefully it's just a matter of a few scumbags trying to kill each other over some prison argument or a bad deal or a pregnant sister or something.

Senior List

i think it is a misnomer to call it the Victorian Bikie War. if the Hells Angels and the Finks are at War in Queensland then technically the clubs are at war all over Australia, This is why police are always trying to play down some of the more spectacular triple murders,( Hellfire Club,) double murders (Rebel Rick and friend) and assasinations (Ben Young) as "disputes over a girl" or was" possibly seeing someone else girlfriend." Absolute bullshit-these are club v club sanctioned killings-often ordered at a national level and more often than not tit -for tat.
The Hells Angels have always seen themselves as the big boys in the Australian scene and tried to lord it over the home grown Clubs. When the Rebels got a bit uppity in Adelaide three were shot dead on the street.
Attempts by the Angels to patch over Finks chapters on the Gold Coast led to the infamous Ballroom Blitz, the repercussions of which are still ongoing and possibly include the killing of Ben Young, the jaw dropping daylight murder of Jason De Leso by nine Hells Angels ,the Shooting of Mark Sanderys son,the murder of Aaron Cluses brother and dozens of other murders ,bashings and arson attacks- and that is only the HA vs the Finks.
Interestingly tensions seem to eased since the Mongol patch over of the Finks.
However that could all change when Troy Merchanti gets out of jail in the future. The Coffin Cheaters in Western Australia are strongly aligned with the Hells Angels and Mercantis actions after being kicked out of the Cheaters and bringing the Finks into the State then using the trust fund the cheaters had set up for one of their murdered brothers to buy the Finks Clubhouse, has not been forgotten.
He was a dead man walking out on the street and he knew it.
The domestic violence charges that got Mercanti jailed were quite cleverly done really, the safest place for Troy was a WA jail cell and his missus got witness protection and whisked out of the State with a new identity. Win Win situation.

Senior List

in 1996 a mask wearing Gerard Preston carrying a pistol strode into a Adelaide mechanical workshop owned by drug dealer Les Knowles. Preston shot dead Knowles and Tim Richards in an office and wounded another employee as he made his escape.
This was a Hells Angels sanctioned hit, Knowles was thought to have ripped off the Melbourne bikies in an interstate drug deal.
Preston opened his mouth to an estranged girlfriend , Viki Jacobs who implicated him and the Hells Angels for the murder. Jacobs was shot dead while sleeping next to her six year old child by a Darwin HA member as payback.
Over a decade later in the midst of a vicious war between the Adelaide HA and the Finks, nine disguised HA associates strode into a Poorooka workshop in broad daylight and shot dead Fink associate jason De lesso.
It seems the HA had learnt from the botched Knowles job that they had had to" clean up " afterwards in revenge and in case Jacobs could implicate any members further. They used their own guys this time and unbelievably all 9 of the murderers have stayed "solid " to date and De lessos murder remains unsolved,
The HA enjoy a fearsome reputation in the underworld with good reason as these shocking crimes demonstrate.

Debutant

i think it is a misnomer to call it the Victorian Bikie War. if the Hells Angels and the Finks are at War in Queensland then technically the clubs are at war all over Australia, This is why police are always trying to play down some of the more spectacular triple murders,( Hellfire Club,) double murders (Rebel Rick and friend) and assasinations (Ben Young) as "disputes over a girl" or was" possibly seeing someone else girlfriend." Absolute bullshit-these are club v club sanctioned killings-often ordered at a national level and more often than not tit -for tat.
The Hells Angels have always seen themselves as the big boys in the Australian scene and tried to lord it over the home grown Clubs. When the Rebels got a bit uppity in Adelaide three were shot dead on the street.
Attempts by the Angels to patch over Finks chapters on the Gold Coast led to the infamous Ballroom Blitz, the repercussions of which are still ongoing and possibly include the killing of Ben Young, the jaw dropping daylight murder of Jason De Leso by nine Hells Angels ,the Shooting of Mark Sanderys son,the murder of Aaron Cluses brother and dozens of other murders ,bashings and arson attacks- and that is only the HA vs the Finks.
Interestingly tensions seem to eased since the Mongol patch over of the Finks.
However that could all change when Troy Merchanti gets out of jail in the future. The Coffin Cheaters in Western Australia are strongly aligned with the Hells Angels and Mercantis actions after being kicked out of the Cheaters and bringing the Finks into the State then using the trust fund the cheaters had set up for one of their murdered brothers to buy the Finks Clubhouse, has not been forgotten.
He was a dead man walking out on the street and he knew it.
The domestic violence charges that got Mercanti jailed were quite cleverly done really, the safest place for Troy was a WA jail cell and his missus got witness protection and whisked out of the State with a new identity. Win Win situation.

It will never happen though... criminals , politicians cops gain too much from drugs being illegal.

Meanwhile average, ignorant, no idea Joe who sits at home and pays for the stupid waste of time war on drugs thinks it's a wonderful thing and having an impact when customs and police parade a drug haul once a month on the news.

Senior List

An interesting development over the last decade has been the concept of biker club factional wars often between chapter or neighbouring chapters of the same organisation.. In Canada we had the Shedden massacre debacle, where the Texas mother club of the Bandidos were attempting to shut down a chapter but encountering opposition to the move from the European and Australian factions.
Of course the real winners from the Shedden debacle were the Hells Angels who virtually got Canada to themselves as a result.
Not long after Shedden the American Bandidos announced a disenfranchisement from the European and Australians, and in a telling move made a total change of the Bandido trademark" patch".
Around a similar time we saw the brother v brother slaying of Australian Bandido leader Rodney Monk,that seems to have been a consequence of intra chapter factional infighting and politics. Possibly related to a ripoff and murder during a drug deal.
An en masse patcher of Sydney Bandidos to the Hells Angels, followed, something that would have seemed impossible only a couple of years before, reportedly a million dollar compensation payment from the HA to the Bandidos smoothed things over for the defection.
Similar tensions seem to be simmering amongst the Sydney Rebels since the power vacuum created by the refusal of the Australian Government to allow president Alex Vella to re-enter Australia, with a number of internal club shootings ,bashings and murders.
Years Ago Authorities were predicting " the big four" Australian motorcycle clubs patching over all smaller clubs Australia wide. Realistically this was never going to happen.
Instead the most powerful clubs keep their numbers of patched members small, manageable and as high quality as possible, whilst engaging smaller clubs as friendly feeder and support underlings who pay dues and do the wishes of the larger Club.

Senior List

Interesting to see the Aboriginal Street Gang " Naala Moort " or "Our Family" coming into the news with a fairly decent sized meth bust and a distribution racket from Perth to regional areas.
Their colours could indicate loose affiliation with the Bandidos but would be more of a prison/street gang comprised of aboriginals- one to watch.

Club Legend

It will never happen though... criminals , politicians cops gain too much from drugs being illegal.

Meanwhile average, ignorant, no idea Joe who sits at home and pays for the stupid waste of time war on drugs thinks it's a wonderful thing and having an impact when customs and police parade a drug haul once a month on the news.

Senior List

Bell the senior WA copper called them out as having an identical structure to a motorcycle gang in terms of membership, office bearers etc, He also said they have 30 to 40 members. I am only guessing at some sort of understanding with an existing OMG as these guys make it their business to take street and prison gangs under their umbrella.
Yes i did notice the similarity in colours to the aboriginal flag,and I suppose another thing going against my theory is that the Bandidos have traditionally struggled to get a firm hold in Western Australia.
It looks as though an organisation with the same name was organising kids soccer and football matches about ten years ago but it seems a big leap to make from community group to organised crime gang...

The Freemasons also have insignia, president, sergeant of arms, secretary's etc.

However, I do agree that these blokes seem to have taken on aspects biker culture, but I doubt they have anything to do with bike clubs. I believe one of the "gangs" in NSW, "Notorious" also sets itself up along biker culture lines, but doesn't require members to ride bikes.

Senior List

The Freemasons also have insignia, president, sergeant of arms, secretary's etc.

However, I do agree that these blokes seem to have taken on aspects biker culture, but I doubt they have anything to do with bike clubs. I believe one of the "gangs" in NSW, "Notorious" also sets itself up along biker culture lines, but doesn't require members to ride bikes.
Oh it is very noble of you to agree with one of Western Australias top coppers on the matter. Yes we all know about Notorious, Brothers for life, The last hour-what is your point here,,are you trying to have an argument with yourself.?

Clubs are very protective of their colors and wouldn't be outsourcing them to others in that manner.

What a load of bollocks- i am quite clearly talking about support clubs indicating allegiance to friendly mother clubs through similar colours- look at the colours of the Red Devils and Coffin Cheaters in relation to the Hells Angels for a start. The senior clubs want everyone in town wearing their colours, red and white, black and gold or whatever.

Hall of Famer

What a load of bollocks- i am quite clearly talking about support clubs indicating allegiance to friendly mother clubs through similar colours- look at the colours of the Red Devils and Coffin Cheaters in relation to the Hells Angels for a start. The senior clubs want everyone in town wearing their colours, red and white, black and gold or whatever.